


Read to Me

by Iridium (IridiumFlames)



Category: Free!
Genre: ASMR, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 17:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3904912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IridiumFlames/pseuds/Iridium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of Makoto’s arms is a warm easy weight over his chest, and he’s feeling pretty good about life, so he can be excused for being idiosyncratic.</p><p>“Read to me.”</p><p>------------------</p><p>An extremely long-coming fill for <a href="http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/2701.html?thread=3602061">this</a> kink meme prompt: "Haru has ASMR."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Read to Me

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to write the entire thing while listening to ASMR videos and it was so calming, seriously. I've put a couple links about ASMR at the end, but so you can get an idea before reading at least– it stands for "autonomous sensory meridian response" and it's basically an unusually calm feeling and tingling caused by small white-noise sounds.

It’s because Haru had a free day. He’s required to take free days, but for the first time ever there is an adequate amount of water in his day-to-day life, so it doesn’t annoy him. Makoto is going through his finals, the last one finished a few hours ago, so he’s done for the day too, and it’s cozy.

Not really. When he arrived at Makoto’s apartment, windblown and irritable, it was biting cold. It’s dead of November, and nature was screaming for too much contact with his skin. But inside, it’s warm. Makoto, despite living in a share house, is still abysmal at cooking if it’s not eggs and rice so Haru’s invited himself over for the weekend to make a Dinner. And a nice dinner, because Makoto did well enough on his final that he isn’t worrying about it. He should get something as a reward after all that work.

They’ve just finished Haru’s Dinner, which was a makeshift hot pot composed of whatever Makoto had in his fridge. Not that Haru is known for having the most balanced diet, but even the meal he scraped together from Makoto’s leftovers and some lettuce was better than leaving him to waste away on instant ramen. He’d borrowed a slow cooker and pan from somebody else in the share house, but he washed them afterward, they shouldn’t mind. 

Haru is slowly melting into the couch. He hadn’t bothered to buy a Western-style couch for his apartment, it was practically a closet anyway. But Makoto’s share house had one, and in his infinite kindness, Makoto had gotten a blanket for it with a correct fabric. It didn’t itch at Haru and make everything too loud when it wasn’t, it was just soft. So the couch is actually comfortable and he might lay here forever, with his head on Makoto’s lap. They’ve got the TV on mute, the only light apart from the kitchen, and it flashes soft neon over them, a little, silent light show. It’s nice, really.

Makoto’s got his legs crossed and is reading a magazine from a subscription his dad had gotten him. It was a going-away present now that he’s in college. He’s to keep up with the world’s events, something about being a proper adult that had left his father teary-eyed and Makoto deeply appreciative. Haru hadn’t fully understood it, but he does like flipping through the old magazines when he visits.

One of Makoto’s arms is a warm easy weight over his chest, and he’s feeling pretty good about life, so he can be excused for being idiosyncratic.

“Read to me.”

Makoto hums as he pops out of his magazine, glancing over at him. “What now?” 

That’s a bit embarrassing, he hadn’t intended to say it out loud at all. But… 

“Read to me. Whatever article is next, read it out loud.” Makoto could make a grocery list sound pleasant, and he is Haru’s boyfriend, Haru has dibs on his voice. Luckily for his dignity, Makoto doesn’t say anything, but gives him a smile and straightens out his magazine, flipping a couple pages over to a new article.

“The largest cetaceans, blue whales, may span a hundred feet, and weigh a third of a million pounds, larger than any dinosaur…” His voice tips and lilts, never moving above a half-whisper. Haru doesn’t fault him for staying quiet; it’s more sacred for how rare it is. This tranquility, three floors up in a share house in Tokyo, is different from Iwatobi’s homey coastline, but winter muffles the constant, rushing noise of the city. In this small room, the world is slowed to a crawl. 

Somewhere around the time Makoto tells him about flipper adaptation, Haru stops listening. 

He doesn’t tune Makoto out because he’s boring, or because he doesn’t care; he’s still half-paying attention. He really does want to learn that whales adapted shorter legs in exchange for stronger tails, just as Makoto said. But there’s the loveliest tingling starting at the top of his skull, and he doesn’t want to interrupt it. 

It’s happened before. Only a few times since he’s started high school, but it’s not a new sensation, which is why he lets it continue. Once, after he first noticed it, Haru bothered to look it up. Apparently he’s not alone. A surprising number of people had the same sort of pleasant buzz if they knew how to trigger it, but he hadn’t actively sought it out, whatever it was, or tried to make it happen. And he’d never had it start when Makoto was nearby.

Makoto keeps reading, and he listens as the tingling spills gently over the rest of his head, down his spine. Haru lies there, floating away mentally. His heartbeat might have stopped, his entire head feels like television static, this is so calming– until Makoto stops reading. 

He blinks, not expecting the quiet. “Makoto. Why did you stop?” he asks, frowning. 

Makoto looks down at him, laughing a little helplessly. “Well, it looked like I was putting you to sleep.” 

Shit. How does he explain this, anyway? Haru pauses and breaks eye contact, so he can put things into words properly. “I’m not falling asleep. Something happened that– makes me feel nice. I don’t remember what it’s called but I’ll look it up later if you want.” 

“What do you mean?” Makoto looks at him, not out of disbelief; judging by the expression on his face he’d like to know more. The nice tingly feeling’s going away though, which Haru is a little unhappy about, but no reason to get worked up– it’ll just go away faster. 

He tries to explain. “It feels like– when your leg falls asleep, but without hurting. And only in my head. It goes away after a while.” 

Makoto looks vaguely curious but not bothered by it, which is a good sign. “Does it– is this something that happens to a lot of people?”

“I think so. It’s not just me.” He has to emphasize that at least this thing is not just Haru Being Weird, it happens to other people, he’s normal. He stops for a moment, considering Makoto’s potential for teasing, and then adds, “It doesn’t happen for the same reason with everyone. I– voices. When someone’s talking softly, it happens for me. Sometimes.” 

Makoto’s face blooms into a small delighted smile. “Ah, so it happened because of me reading to you? And it doesn’t– it won’t hurt you, right?” 

“No.” Makoto is running one hand through Haru’s hair, scratching behind his ears. He is absolutely being petted right now. It feels wonderful. 

“Do you want me to keep reading?” Haru thinks about it for a minute, blinking slowly. Makoto doesn’t have anything happening tomorrow. He doesn’t have practice until the afternoon, and it’s not actual practice, just a maintenance workout. They really could relax all night long. 

“Yes.” 

Makoto keeps reading to him, and Haru remembers maybe one sentence of whale information out of the entire ten-page article. By the time he reaches the end of the article, Haru is actually close to falling asleep entirely and Makoto’s sounding drowsy himself. “I’m pretty tired, Haru,” he yawns, setting the magazine aside. “How about bed?” 

That’s fair. He did have a final earlier, and it’s well into the night now. “Sure,” he concedes, and after the most minimal of bedtime routine, they end up curled in bed. Makoto wraps one arm around his middle, pressing Haru tight to him the way both of them like before settling in to sleep. The dream hasn’t really broken, just shifted, into something more intimate. But despite the way they’re both half-gone already, Haru can tell that Makoto is trying not to fall asleep. He wants to say something.

“What is it?” he mumbles, and shifts slightly under the arm sprawled over him to look at Makoto from the corner of one eye. 

“Nothing. I’m just thinking, I guess.” Haru feels lips touch the back of his neck, and Makoto’s voice is so incredibly fond when he speaks again. “I’ve been with you my whole life, and I never knew that about you. That you feel- whatever it is that you were feeling, when I was reading. There’s always something new about you, even though I’ve known you so long.” 

“It’s not a big deal,” Haru protests. 

“I know. But it’s you,” Makoto says, so simple, like the fact that it’s Haru automatically makes it important. He can feel himself blushing and turns back over, presses back against Makoto’s chest.

“Go to sleep,” Haru says, still whispering, but the smile in his voice is obvious and he’s not really sorry for it. He’s so content. His favorite person is curled around him giving him hugs and acceptance, and what could be better? Kicking his legs between Makoto’s, he cuddles further into bed. The entire evening has been one long drifting-off, with Makoto following behind him, and Haru’s body finally catches up with his mind, and relaxes into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response) the Wikipedia article, and [a neat news one](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-whisper-then-tingles-then-87-million-youtube-views-meet-the-star-of-asmr/2014/12/12/0c85d54a-7b33-11e4-b821-503cc7efed9e_story.html) I found; I do want to say that I experience ASMR, but usually it's only caused by crinkling packaging noises- whispering seems to be working as well recently so that's pretty cool!
> 
> Also if you really want it here's how to find [the whale article](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/11/01/html/ft_20011101.4.html) at least, I read this when I was a kid and remembered it when writing about these two whale-themed nerds but it was RIDICULOUSLY HARD to find. I had to go look through some library's magazine archives, the things I do for gay fanfic seriously


End file.
